“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Chamois Niortais have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Denis Gonzalez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Stéphane Lemoine trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Chamois Niortais, another week without a signature from Harry Mills.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chamois Niortais this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Stéphane Lemoine was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Jésah Ayessa was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Position 1, 51 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chamois Niortais this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Stéphane Lemoine was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chamois Niortais, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Jésah Ayessa has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Chamois Niortais, and it is not being withdrawn.
Denis Gonzalez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hendricks Cakin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Hilan Hamzaoui Slimani leaves Chamois Niortais the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
Out, 0‑1 to Olympique de Marseille, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ignazio Farina will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chamois Niortais the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Denis Gonzalez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Stéphane Lemoine knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Quentin Bena was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Louis Caron. 1‑0 against US Creteil, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Raymond Morel and Chamois Niortais agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Valenciennes arrived with $440.0K and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Dijon will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Chamois Niortais were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chamois Niortais this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 9.28 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.